5 Things Realtors Can Do RIGHT NOW for MORE Business in 2011

Who calls a mortgage office out of the blue?

Lots of people do. Call it a sign of the times. Call it an epidemic of finance phobia. Whatever it is, the clues they leave behind could help you find more buyers in 2011.

So let's get the basic premise of this post out of the way right now by agreeing on these 3 things which I believe to be true:

1. People might call a mortgage person BEFORE they ever contact a Realtor. This trend is going to continue because lending is so challenging and credit is so tarnished.
   
2. Knowing who these people are and what they are thinking might help you decide who to target as buyers next year.
3. You could be in danger of losing a sale because they call the lender first.

Okay, if we agree on these things, then here are my 5 suggestions for outsmarting the compitition and making sure you have plenty of buyers and sellers in your 2011 pipeline:

1. Pick up the phone now and call every seller that sold their home as a short sale in 2008 and 2009. They are being released from short sale jail after 2 years. Lenders are ready to loan to them again (with restrictions, of course) and they are tired of renting, over the embarrassment of the short sale, and want to be ready to buy in 2011. These people are calling our office in droves, asking us to run their credit and set them up to buy next year.
2. Make sure all of your past clients know you will help them if they sell their property to someone in their family. I have handled 5 transactions this year in which parents sold properties to children without a Realtor.  They called into the mortgage office for help with the transaction because they needed a loan for the son/daughter. Most thought there was no way a Realtor would help unless they paid a standard commission. Did these people need Realtors to help them ? YES.
   
3. DO NOT even think about taking a listing or holding an open house without a financing flyer.  Believe me when I tell you I get plenty of calls off of these flyers from people who called me but not the Realtor who had the house listed, or who held the open house. At least this way, I can (and will) refer the buyer back to you.
4. If the only lender you have in your lender stable is a big box bank, you need an alternative. Here's why: you might be surprised at the number of loans we have closed this year that the big box banks wouldn't do, couldn't do, or the poor borrower got so frustrated that they actually fired their big box lender and called our office.
   
5. For every 9 calls that come into our office, only 1 actually has the right stuff to qualify. Pretty sad statistic, but one we must live with. For this reason, you as a Realtor need to develop a way to EDIT your potential buyers quickly and ruthlessly. Seek out a lender who will text you, e-mail you, or pick up the phone when you call with a scenario or a request for a preapproval. Don't try to figure it out yourself, or make "hope" your strategy. The faster you get through the nine that won't, the closer you are to the one who will.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker For RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area